Just started miscarrying at 9 weeks... What to expect?

[BadBadBeans]

I started experiencing some brown spotting at 9 weeks pregnant. I then had a few small black sticky bits and a bit of fresh red so I was referred to EPU for a scan at 9+1 (yesterday). The scan revealed a pregnancy only measuring 6 weeks. The nurse couldn't confirm it was a miscarriage because of its size, so asked me to come back in a week for a rescan. What is frustrating about this is that she gave me no information about what would happen to me or what to expect when miscarrying. I did ask, but she just said we would discuss it next week.

I have had a lot more brown blood since, and a pretty large (bigger than 2p piece) clot of black/red gloopy stuff, as well as a few smaller clots. I'm cramping on and off, but not badly - but then I've been lucky enough to have not had period pain since having DS two years ago, having previously suffered badly from it, so I'm not sure if that is why I'm not feeling very painful cramps?

I have started trying to research what to expect and have scared myself silly. What does it look like when the sac/baby comes away? Will it all come out in one piece? (Is that awful?) Are there any circumstances in which blood loss would mean I have to go to hospital, and if there are, how do I know how much is too much? Is there anything I need to look out for in terms of things going wrong?

What happens afterwards in terms of trying to conceive again? Do I need to wait for a normal period first?

So many questions! I do appreciate that the NHS saw me so quickly for a scan, but by golly I wish they had at least sent me home with a leaflet. I just sort of left the room on my own in tears. It wasn't great! (I am feeling okay now though - just desperate for information.)

So sorry to hear this. I had a very similar experience, it’s a shame they’re not allowed to tell you about miscarriage but I guess it’s in case they are wrong at first scan. Even when you’re sure it’s not wrong! Everyone’s miscarriages are different but in case mine helps: scan at 11 weeks a week last Weds after brown then red spotting. Found it was 6-7 weeks, no heartbeat. NHS scan on the Friday which confirmed my fears but they weren’t able to actually confirm it was a MC. Started ‘properly’ bleeding that day & by Sunday night had passed lots of clots & bled but not haemorrhaged like you seem to read about on forums. On & off symptoms this week & had a rescan yesterday which confirmed I’d passed the sac but had loads of lining left. Had no idea at all, it measured 31mm & I guess I didn’t feel it or notice (didn’t poke about in loo at all).

Sadly can’t help with TTC after or any emergencies as haven’t/didn’t experience either. I think it’s if you’re soaking more than a pad in an hour. I think you’ll know if you’re haemorrhaging dangerously. Good luck & stock up on pads, painkillers & hot water bottle xx

@Melamine that is extremely helpful; thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience, which I am also sorry to hear about. I am relieved to hear that it is possible to pass the sac without realising. (I was sorely tempted to poke in the loo earlier today but decided against it on that basis that it wasn't my loo - GRIM!) I sent DH out for extra pads earlier, and shall dig out the hot water bottle too for tonight I think; that's a good idea. Thank you again, and good luck with your recovery xx

I'm sorry. That's really crap.

So sorry. I misscarried about the same stage and whilst I had no real complications it certainly wasn't "just like a heavy period" which is what I had always heard before. I too didn't see anything resembling a baby.

The NHS were to vague about what to expect etc. The best advice I found was here miscarriage association

Be kind to yourself

Second the miscarriage association got help - very useful info. Fingers crossed that it’s not too bad for you. X

Thanks @spanky2 @cookiefiend and @Melamine. The Miscarriage Association is the best advice I've seen too, so thank you for that. It's all a bit stop-starty at the moment so I'm hoping my body will just hurry up and sort itself out as I would like to get past it!

I mc at 9 weeks 2 years ago and had contractions, the urge to push and passed a perfect tiny foetus.
Blood slowed down afterwards and pains stopped immediately.

I didn't seek medical help as felt fine.

Whatever happens call someone if you feel out of your depth.

@Aprilmightbemnewname thank you very much for the information; it helps me a lot to know what might happen and to be prepared for it. I'm really sorry for your loss. x

I held it for a few moments and it gave me closure tbt. . Don't be scared - but don't feel crap if you don't feel up to it. Everyone is different in how they cope.

Oh @Aprilmightbemynewname that must have been such an emotional thing to happen. Thank you so much for sharing, and for your kind and wise advice xx

@BadBadBeans I'm so sorry you're going through this. Its just awful and I wouldnt wish it on anyone! Its a shame they couldn't give you more information while you were there.

In my experience the cramps and bleeding will ramp up and you will get a lot of tissue and clots coming away. Given the baby was measuring 6 weeks it's unlikely you'll see the foetus when it comes away as it will still be quite small. In all of my 3 mmc babies stopped developing at 8/9weeks. In mmc 1&3 I got cramping which then caused my "waters" to go and the feotus came away before all the placenta tissue and clots, it was about the size of a kidney bean. I held it, said goodbye and apologised to it. Mmc1 I buried it in the garden with our wedding tree, mmc3 I took it to hospital for testing and it will be cremated afterwards. The bleeding can get very heavy, it can come in waves like contractions. After 2/3 hours it should start to die down a bit. If you feel weak/lightheaded/unable to cope at home with the pain and bleeding then go into hospital. TBH when mine was at its worst going more than 10paces from the loo was not an option so the last thing I wanted was to go to hospital.
My main advice is get in maternity pads, sanitary towels won't cut it. And start taking iron tablets cos after a week or so you'll feel like you've been hit by a bus! Talk to people, cry when you want to and get a sick note so you can take some time physically and mentally to come to terms with it.
Afterwards make sure you have a follow up scan to check everything has come away and nothing has been retained and take a pregnancy test after 3 weeks to check it's negative.
TTC some say wait for next period which will allow for more accurate dating if you fell straight away. Its personal choice. That first period (and subsequent ones) can be far from normal.
Take care of yourself.

@Labmum thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience. I'm so sorry that you've had to go through this three times. It sounds like you had some very emotional experiences. What a beautiful idea to bury your first with your wedding tree.

Extremely helpful advice with the maternity pads and iron tablets too. Fortunately for me I am self-employed and I happen to not have a project on this week - so can just take the time (around looking after DS!) to let things happen and to process. Thank you so much for your time xx

So for my own record, and to help anyone who comes here in the future in search of information, this is how it's gone for me so far. (WARNING: This is graphic):

Day 1: Some brown 'spotting' in the evening - a few sort of strands of pale brown that came away when I wiped.
Day 2: Morning: Some medium brown discharge when wiping. A splotch of it, about 3cm in diameter. Late afternoon: some small black/red sticky congealed bits, and a bit of fresh red blood in with the brown.
Day 3: Morning: More stringy/gloopy black/red stuff when wiping. Much larger strands. Had scan at EPU which confirmed 6 weeks growth rather than 9 weeks. A little fresh red blood after the scan, maybe dislodged by the internal scan? Then in the evening, some mild cramping, quite a bit of brown blood (needed to change a sanitary towel a few times during the day - not soaked, but enough blood to warrant changing after going to the loo), a feeling of bloatedness.
Day 4: Morning: passed a 2p-sized clot of red/black stuff in the toilet. Then some more brown blood. Some more black goopy stuff in the evening I think. Blood mostly brown.
Day 5: Blood dark red, more like a period. Not lots. Mild aching feeling on and off. A little more goopy stuff.
Day 6: At about midday I had cramps that weren't terrible but made me think, 'uh-oh', so I went and took two ibuprofen. Then (thank god) my son went down for a nap, and I spent the next two hours moving between my bed and the toilet. During this time I experienced lots of rushes of wet red blood, which felt a bit like I was wetting myself, and which because they were quite big and fast managed to overshoot my pad a couple of times and soak through my knickers and trousers - even though my pad wasn't saturated every time, it just wasn't big enough to catch where the blood was running to, if that makes sense. Fortunately I had put a towel down in the bed. I changed my pad about three times in two hours - it was only totally saturated once, the other times it was just messy enough that I wanted a new one. Spent quite a lot of time just sitting on the toilet, bleeding into it, and occasionally feeling clumps of stuff slithering out. The clumps were jelly like, blackish purplish red, and some of them were quite big - like 5 or 6 cm across. When I wiped, more clumps of stuff came away. I inspected everything that I could but couldn't see anything that looked like a sac to me. After a couple of hours of this, my son woke up, so I had to go and play with him and I was able to. I just sat on a towel (good job too because I had another little rush of blood which went through my leggings in a couple of spots!). I did squat a bit too; I felt that that would help stuff come out of me. About three hours after the big bleeding started, it all tailed off again. The cramps went away. I'm still bleeding this evening but it's just fresh wet red blood with a very small amount of clots, and there's not loads and loads of it any more.

I'm now interested to see if that was the main event, or if I will have another experience of passing a load of stuff at once later on...

Also, to add: I was barely in any pain the whole time. I used to have HORRIFIC period pain before I had my little boy, but I have had about 10 periods since having him and haven't had pain with them since. I do wonder if this would have been a lot more painful if I'd gone through it before having my son, as giving birth seems to have done something to me in that I no longer have painful cramps.

Hi @BadBadBeans, sorry to see you here and thank you for sharing your experience. I hope it remains fairly painless physically.

Firstly I'm so sorry you're going through this. Are they monitoring you still to make sure everything clears? One thing I would say is don't underestimate how your OH is feeling. I know you're the one going through it all :(

My experience was about 2 weeks of passing this liver stuff, if not longer. They say don't wear a tampon, on one occasion I needed to try and stem the blood loss so tried, on sitting it felt like a hot poker in my foof.

I didn't actually pass 'it' till after 4/6 weeks on bleeding and passing the liver stuff. I was being a bit grim but some of it needed assistance, so I kind of swept inside. I was 9 weeks but measured 8 weeks. What I passed was like a 2p sized ball.

Other miscarriages have been heavy clotty bleeding, but the later ones were worse as I think the placenta had formed.

I got told after an internal scan all had passed, but I carried on passing stuff and bleeding for a while. When I finally passed the sac or whatever it's called I was surprised they had told me 4/6 weeks earlier it was all clear, when it obviously wasn't.

People generally don't know what to say during such situations. My advice would be, it's going to hurt emotionally no matter what. I think you have to go through it to understand.

I would say though, please do not lose hope for the future. I know a lot about gynae stuff so more than willing to help. I would be as big headed as to say I know more than most EPAU nurses.

Feel free to message me if you need anything.

Hey @TinyPaws, I'm sorry to see you here too. Are you still waiting for a follow-up scan? Is there any hope?

@MrsJackHackett thank you for telling me this. Mine has all started up again today so I guess I might have a while of it to go. Technically not being monitored - the hospital didn't give me any idea of what to do if I started miscarrying - but I decided today that I was going to contact the GP, who was helpful. Scary to know that they told you it was clear and it wasn't, though :( I'm sorry that happened to you.

So today (Day 7) I dropped my son off at nursery while wearing a night-time pad, and bled through the pad and my trousers AND the fricking towel I had put on the car seat to protect it, so the car seat is now a bit stained! Thankfully I had a long coat with me so I managed to rush in and out of the supermarket to grab a load of maternity pads. Went home and put on maternity pad and completely soaked it in less than 2 hours, and passed more clots (at this point I phoned the GP). It's all slowed down again now but I'm feeling quite a bit of pressure in my pelvic area so I guess it might start up again.

My top tips thus far:

• Get maternity pads ASAP.
• Don't go out anywhere unless you really absolutely have to!
• If you do have to go out, put a bin bag under a towel on the car seat!!!!!

I am so sorry you're going through this.

I have miscarried at 6, 7 and 10 weeks and have had an ERPC too - I will be very frank.

At 6 and 7 weeks it was much like you describe, I didnt see anything that looked like a sac or feotus because at 6-7 weeks it wouldnt have been formed well enough to see in amongst all the other 'stuff'. I had a couple of days of real cramping then it all died down like a long period with clots and the stringy stuff you say.

At 10 weeks it was worse in terms of 'stuff' and pain, almost like lumps of tissue coming away and i saw the sac, which was sort of grey and the size of a large grape. The pains were like mild contractions and I had urges to push - not as strong as in labour, but a bit like when you need a poo and its coming whether you like it or not. The bleeding went on for about 2 weeks that time.

What you will probably find is because the foetus was 6 weeks it's probably come away, the larger clots etc etc are likely to be the womb lining and beginnings of placenta etc as you'r body would have carried on until now as if it was still supporting a pregnancy.

I hope you are ok. xxxx

Sounds like you’re on the home straight now Beans. Fingers crossed x

@whiteonesugar Thank you for sharing so frankly. I'm sorry you've had to go through that so many times, and it is very kind of you to come on here and support others. I think you might be right in that I may have passed the sac without realising, at it does seem to be dying down a bit today. Hope you are right anyway!

@Melamine yes I think so (hope so!). How are you doing?

So, Day 8: Had some cramps in the early morning, got worse when I got up around 6.45am. Went down for breakfast but couldn't face it. Took two ibuprofen (only my second lot since it all started so I think I may have got off lightly). Lay in bed for about 45 minutes, cramping in waves and breathing through the cramps. Felt like the really bad period pains I used to get in terms of intensity, although I didn't feel much pain, just the intense sensation of cramping. I guess it was rather like the contractions I had in labour, too. Because of this I went to the toilet, convinced I was going to end up pushing out the sac, but I didn't. Just a more fresh red blood, and a couple of extremely small clots. For a couple of hours afterwards I did experience some light dizzy spells, but I had eaten 'breakfast' (a couple of digestive biscuits, some toast and a jam doughnut - classy) late so that may have contributed. Had the dizzy spells worsened I would have rung the doctor but I seem okay now.

Thanks for sharing. I hope you're beginning to feel better. Unfortunately it was confirmed today that my baby has not grown and does not have a heartbeat. I've been advised that expectant management is the best option (although other options are available) and am apprehensive about what this will be like so it is helpful to read others experiences.

@TinyPaws so sorry to hear your news-I've been in the same situation. I had two and a bit weeks between scans before they'd 100% confirm my bean had stopped growing,and I opted for expectant management for another two weeks after that to see if nature would take its course.

Sadly in my case it didn't-so I've had medical management today. So far just mild period pain and no bleeding but I'm hoping it will work over the next day or two.

For me the hardest part is the mental/emotional side. I feel ready to let my bean go, but my body has been holding on so tightly. I feel I can't move on and start to heal until I've physically lost him if that makes sense.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. I'm so sorry for your loss-but do know you're not alone xxx

@Laney79 Sorry to hear that, I hope things get moving soon and aren’t too painful.

I’ve really struggled being at work the last week knowing my little bean has probably died but thankfully EPU gave me a sick note which is a huge relief. I still have nausea so I don’t think things will start yet.

@TinyPaws I'm so sorry to hear your sad news. I hope that being at least marginally prepared that it might be bad news meant it was a little easier to hear. I certainly felt that way at my scan on Friday. I'm glad that you've been signed off, and I'm really sorry that your body hasn't started letting go on its own yet - I hope it does soon for you. I think I'm over the hump now and I really haven't found it too awful physically. I hope you and your partner have people supporting you. I've found talking to my friends really helpful. x

@Laney79 Oh how horrid to have to wait for more than a fortnight between scans. I'm glad that you've already had signs that the medical management is working and I hope it gets going quickly for you. x

I had almost the exact same thing on around day 8, crippling cramps but nothing much coming out - found out a couple of days later the sac was gone so it had gone ages before that. And your breakfast sounds delicious. 😉 I’m ok, thank you. Went out today with no pad for the first time in nearly 3 weeks! Yes! 💪